Hanging your Deer
Wisconsin
By the feet ? Or Head ? And reason. Any neat tricks.?
Just by the feet, easier skinning for me. I am sure there are other methods, reasons and whys.
Head down, this one was done from the tractor but it's usually the rafters in my garage.
Just curious always head down for me all the old pics are head down in most pics any of the old times know the reasoning??
I hang head down also. It's better for the meat and I believe hanging them this way shows a little more respect to the deer. Not that I would shame someone for hanging them by the head.
Does anyone age there venison? Years ago, I new a guy (old timer) during the rifle season, if he was successful, would hang his deer for weeks outside if the weather permitted before butchering.
Head down. The reason being (in theory) is any blood that is still in it will flow out of the quarters and collecting the head. The will help with the gameness of the meat. The blood contains xyz acid which is the same acid that makes your muscles sore after exercise.
It's also easier to skin head down.
Just a theory but that's my reasoning.
After washing and cutting off the legs I hang them head down with the nose in a bucket to catch any extra drainage and keep the shed floor clean. I feel the deer cool down faster and the condensation can dry out faster, ,no mold this way. I have aged older deer up to 11 or 12 days at no warmer than 40 degrees, and if it is cold everything gets skinned that night and quartered and put into the walk in cooler if it is going to freeze or be warmer than 40 degrees. If you age it long enough the backstraps basically fall off the deer.
I rinse out the inside cavity of deer and bear before and was told not to. Supposedly, if you are not going to butcher the animal right away, the dried blood acts as a barrier in the cavity keeping bad bacteria at bay.
Head down as well. Have never aged them. I usually try to get them taken care of as soon as possible. I like to get that chore out of the way. I think they skin easier warm, but are easier to butcher when the meat has cooled/firmed up a bit.
We hang by the head to let it drain but we don't skin it that way anymore. We switched to laying the deer in the bed to the truck and doing it like an elk. You end up using the skin hair down as the working area. We never had a lot of hair on the meat before but now hair is really rare.
Why is it bad to wash out the inside of a deer? I have never herd of that but would like to know.
Bacteria prosper and grow at a tremendous rate in a damp environment. Washing the body cavity of field dressed animals provides a wet area for bacteria to grow almost unrestricted. If you are going to wash the body cavity of your animal be certain to thoroughly dry it before allowing the carcass to hang for any amount of time. Also, either split the carcass down the spine (full length, after skinning) or at the least prop the cavity open to promote air circulation. In the meat industry animals are killed, heads removed, skinned, gutted, split, washed with copious amounts of water, and then transferred into a temperature controlled cooler within minutes. The cooler almost always has fans providing tremendous air flow which dries the carcass quickly before bacteria can multiply. Incidentally, and again in the meat industry, carcasses were hung neck down for cooling prior to boning. (Note: when I reference the meat industry here I am referencing the industry I knew for over 30 years. We slaughtered over 1,000 head of cattle and 2,000 - 3,000 hogs per day. At times nearly 5,000 people in the facility.)
The last sentence of my above post should read: "At times nearly 5,000 people worked in the facility."
I wash the inside if gut was hit. Pretty messy if you don't, especially gun shot deer. I drain and dry at those times, then hang by the back hocks. If its too warm, I quarter and place in a refrigerator for a week. If the weather is right, I let hang for a week. If too far below freezing, I quarter and into the refrigerator till the point they start freezing or a week, whichever comes first. The refrigerator is unplugged in the winter that's in my garage, so they will freeze if it gets too cold. I would like to build a shop with a walk in cooler of some sorts, I also do some taxidermy and it would help when I retire and do that part time.
Head down.
Instead of washing off any excess hair that might have gotten on to the deer after skinning I quickly go over with a propane torch to burn off all of the hair.
Yep, the torch is awesome.
casekiska....Thanks for that post.
Head down and skinned as soon as possible and hung for a few days in the shed if the weather permits. I usually wrap carcass in a game cloth too.
I thought the question was hanging in the field. In the field or while waiting for skinning then head up. Skinning head down. No washing unless guts were involved and made a mess.
Usually weather forces me to skin the same or next day, when too warm or the deer would freeze up too quick. If temp is in that sweet spot of 35-45 ish then I will hang them for a few days. If I do skin them soon after being shot I will usually leave the meat in bowls and food grade bags inside a spare frige for a few days before freezing. (called box liners and many real butcher stores have them and should cost around 10 cents each and hold 2 front quarters and 1 hind quarter)
Update: The link is what I mean by a box liner. Not sure this one is the size I get at the butcher shop but you don't want to buy a whole case of them unless you share them with a lot of people. I also use a much smaller food grade bag that is a little thicker for putting trim in for freezing. They can be found at about any restaurant supply store.
https://www.etundra.com/disposables/bags-liners/pan/daymark-110939-hotel-full-steam-pan-liners/
Never had any issue with washing an animal out. and hanging it. No matter what you do you will have some bacteria in the cavity. Yes I dry it out as best I can. Especially gut shot deer.
In the warmer weather during bear season, we skin the bear and dunk it right into ice water to cool it down and then dry it off, quarter it and put it in big (60 gallon) food grade bags and put it in the cooler. But I do not close the bag, so condensation can escape.
And with CWD a saw never touches the carcass until the meat is removed and the head is ready to be cut off.
One of my gun spots every deer we got had to be dragged through a stream as we had to cross a log to get into the hunting area and back. Get to camp hang them by the head and rinse any sand or other stuff out. Pat dry and let drain further for a while and then hang it by the hocks for an extended hang weather permitting. Never had an issue doing this.
I bought a 1 inch piece of all thread rod, and the threads offer great grip when hanging the deer. I use my winch on my four wheeler to lift the deer. I have a piece of round pipe that I hang the cable over, that sits in the rafters of the garage. I have a secondary rope tied off to the four wheeler that is backup if the cable was somehow to break. Works slick. I bone out the deer as it hangs, except removing the front shoulders of course. I skin mine right after registering it. Warmer is better, and the deer cools much quicker, once the insulating skin is removed. I remove the legs with tree loppers, and do all the preliminary skinning while on the tailgate.
Only one response to this effect (Nocturnal), but wondering why people say it is more "respectful" to the animal to hang head down? I have seen this written before and know the Benoit family out east always says that, too.
I just don't understand. I honestly don't see a difference, the animal is dead and gutted, but if there is one I would say head UP would be more respectful. Who want to be upside down?? Would love a good explanation.
It looks like the deer did something wrong and got lynched? Honestly, it may be close to that, I'm sure it looks to some like a hung corpse you would see from the hanging days.
Badger, it was the way I was raised into hunting. Anyone can do as they want. If you don't understand why or see a difference in how, than there's no reason for anyone to explain. I don't understand how you can't find reasons as to why, if you have heard it times before.
I clean um up hanging down , hanging up , but now day's pretty much on the tailgate of the truck . Skin one side , flip skin over and debone . Then flip it over and do the other side . To hard to hang deer by myself now . Takes me about 45 minute's from start to finish . Then the wife does the rest of the work . What ever works for ya .
Nocturnal- Not saying one way is right or wrong, just trying to have someone explain. All I've heard is it is more respectful upside down - never a reason or justification - "just cuz". Always wondered why. That's all.
I was raised always hanging them head up. I do it both ways myself and don't think it is disrespectful either way. If you disagree, that is great. Just wanting to know if you were ever told "why"?
I don't disagree with any way someone wants to hang/butcher their deer. I was brought up to hang them upside down because wrapping a rope around the neck, to hang, takes the beauty away from what they really are. To the ones who don't understand what hunting is about they will look and say ewww. Flip that deer around head down or by the antlers and people automatically have a different thought of wow what a beautiful animal. Even when it's dead I still treat it with respect. That's all.
I and my family have always hung them head up. Only way I go head down on an animal is while skinning for pelts.
When I have help, head down. Usually though, I'm trying to get the deer up and skinned by myself in the garage and get the animal as cool as quick as possible. I skin and quarter and get most of the meat in the freezer to cool off. Get off the straps and all the rest of the "junk" that I grind up as the deer cools.
I can see where wrapping a rope around the neck makes it look hung. That makes sense. However, what about a buck? We have always wrapped the rope around the horns.
I started deer hunting in 1982 when does were difficult to get tags for and still seen as sacred by the majority. So we never had a reason to noose anything around the neck. Rope around the horns and head up hanging from the old oak tree meatpole in the front yard. I don't know if any of us shot a doe until many years later.
To be clear, I am not trying to change anyone's thinking or practices. I am just trying to understand other people's tradition that is different than my own. Just something I've seen written but never explained. More of a philosophical discussion than argument or preaching. That's all.
We hang em by the antlers sometimes too, as I mentioned above. look, I didn't want to make a big deal about it. Everyone does things different and that's fine. If I see someone wrap and hang a deer from the neck, I don't say anything. That's their choice.
Head down
Head down
Head Up
Head Up
On the Ground
On the Ground
For the record: I usually hang mine head up at first. I like all the blood and such from the chest cavity to drain out onto the floor. (Covered in cardboard.) I am usually by myself so a few years ago I invested in an electric winch to get them out of my truck and such ... back when you had to take them to town to register. Best $200 I spent. Also, as mentioned by others, if there is a significant amount of gut material for whatever reason, I do wash out the body cavity and let drain out to the floor.
I have a gambrel and after a day or two, will cut off the legs, skin past the hocks, and switch them around to head down for skinning and butchering.
If it is early season in the season and temperatures are warm, they go upside down and get skinned out ASAP.
So I guess in this sense, AND ONLY THIS SENSE :) ... I guess you could say I go both ways.....
Never wash a deer out with water always wipe em out with paper towels etc.
Never seen a butcher shop hang a cow by the neck. Even fowl they hang head down.
The reason they hang fowl down is drains all blood to head no red bone meat old secret
If you cut a deer in two half's , down the spine with a saw . The only way to do it is hanging from the leg's . Probably why it was done this way to begin with .
Well this is what I do..... I usually hang from the legs, just easier, and I have a pulley system in the garage. I use to wash out my deer, if it was messy, but after a butcher showed me how to bone out my deer, years ago, he told me, to avoid that if I can.
He advised me, to have clean damp rags, and wipe out the cavity.... Anyway, I bone my deer out right away, and put it in my refrigerator, and than work on it sections at a time......
The last 2 deer I shot though, when I got home, I just put them on the trailer, in the garage, and worked on them there. Since they were cut in half, to get them out, it was easy as pie......... ( I would never drag a whole deer, and I also have sleds and carts, but at 67, that is not happening,,,,, easier to break them down, quick in the field to 2 manageable sections, and the legs below the knee are gone and out of the way.....
